Pronunciation
Long vowels aa, ii, uu as ah, ee, oo
Short vowels a, I, u as in English "cut", "bit", "look"
ai is short as in "bat"; au is like the o in "lot"
a~,e~,I~, o~, u~ are nasalised
t' and d' are retroflexive which means they
are pronounced with the tongue curled back against the roof of
the mouth. An h after a consonant means it is "aspirated",
in which H is sounded separately as a rush of air following the
consonant.
Nouns
Nouns are of two genders, masculine and feminine. Hindi is an inflected language, which means the endings of nouns change depending on their position in a sentence. The following table gives the two cases of Hindi, Direct and Oblique.
The Direct case is used as subject or indefinite object, the Oblique case is used with prepositions.
The masculine nouns ending in -aa (ex kamraa (kMr;) room)
| Singular Direct | -aa | kamraa kMr; |
| Singular Oblique | -e | kamre kMre |
| Plural Direct | -e | kamre kMre |
| Plural Oblique | -o~ | kamro~ kMro\ |
Masculine nouns with other endings
| ghar `r | ||
| Singular Oblique | - | ghar `r |
| Plural Direct | - | ghar `r |
| Plural Oblique | -o~ | gharo~ `ro\ |
| Sing. Dir. | -ii | larkii lRkRo |
| Sing Ob. | -ii | larkii lRkRo |
| Pl. Dir. | -iya~ | larkiya~ lRiky;\ |
| Pl Obj. | -iyo~ | larkiyo~ lRikyo\ |
| Sing. Dir | - | kitaab ikt;b |
| Sing. Obj | - | kitaab ikt;b |
| Pl. Dir | -e | kitaabe ikt;be |
| Pl. Obj | -o~ | kitaabo~ ikt;bo\ |
Prepositions follow the noun: kMre k; (kamree kaa) "of the room"
kMre me\ (kamre me~) "in the room"
kMro\ me\ (kamro~ me~) "in the rooms"
There are no articles, and nouns may stand alone: dRv;z; darvaazaa (the door or a door)
Adjectives
Some adjectives ending in -aa agree in number and gender with their nouns, forming masculine singular ,-aa, -e, masculine plural ,-e,-e Feminine in all cases is -ii. chhot'aa kamraa (zo$; kMr;) Small room. Chhot'ee kamree me~ (zo$e kMre me\) "in the small room", etc.
Adjectives not ending in -aa do not change their form.
Chair (kORsRo) kursii red (l;l) laal
laal kursii (red chair) laal kursiya~ (red
chairs)
Comparatives use aur and superlatives with sabse
baraa -big br;
aur baraa -bigger a*r br;
sabse baraa -biggest sBse bar;
"than" is se (se) with the oblique case, proceeding the adjective:
kamre se aur baraa kMre
se a*r br; bigger than the room
Pronouns
(with oblique case in parentheses)
| I, me | m;\ (mOZ) | ma~ (mujh) |
| you (sing or plural) | a;p ,a;p | aap (aap) |
| this | ye,Es | ye (is) |
| that | vo,aos | vo (us) |
| we, us | hm,hm | ham (ham) |
| these | ye,En | ye (in) |
| those | ve,aon | ve (un) |
There are no third person pronouns apart from "this", etc. and these are used for people as well as things. (They can also be used before nouns as demonstratives)
The possessives are declined like adjectives:
| my | mer; | meraa |
| your | a;Pk; | aapkaa |
| our | hmr; | hamaraa |
| belonging to this | ESk; | iskaa |
| belonging to that | aoSk; | uskaa |
| belonging to these | ENk; | inkaa |
| belonging to those | aoNk; | unkaa |
my baggage mer; sm;n meraa samaan
your keys a;PkRo c;iby;\ aapkii chabiya~
in their room aoNke
kMre me\ unke kamre me~
Verbs
The verb comes at the end of the sentence.
We'll start with the verb "honaa", to be hon;
| I am | mee hO\ | mai~ hu~ |
| you are | a;p heee\ | aap hai~ |
| he she this is | ye heee\ | ye hai |
| we are | hm hee\ | ham hai~ |
| they those are | ye hee\ | ye hai~ |
In general, most verbs end in -naa. You form the present or past be altering the infinitive ending -naa with -taa and adding the present or past tense of the verb "to be"
Past tense of "to be":
| I was | &; | thaa |
| you were | &e | the |
| he she this was | &; | thaa |
| we were | &e | the |
| those were | &e | the |
"The room is big" kMr; br; hee. kamraa baraa hai.
"It was the bus" bs
&; bas thaa.
The verb form with the -taa ending is technically a present participle (singing,walking) and must agree with the subject like an adjective
"I sing" (man speaking) mee\ g;t; hO\. Mai~ gaataa hu~
"I sing" (woman speaking) mee\ g;tRo hO\. Mai~ gaatii hu~
"The man sees" aDmRo de%t; hee. Aadmii dekhtaa hai
"The woman saw" aORte
de%tRo &e. Aurte~ dekhtii the.
Hindi has a number of other inflected verb forms, but these should do for simple purposes. Auxiliary verbs follow the follow the infinitive of the main verb:
chaahnaa (to want) c;Hn;
Mai~ dekhnaa chaahtaa hu~ (I
want to see) mee\ de%n;
c;Ht; hO\.
For a negative, place nahi~ before the verb, and in the present, omit the verb "to be"
Mai~ nahi~ dekhtaa. (I don't see) mee\ nih\ de%t;.
Stay tuned for more grammar!!
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